Once upon a time, the art of debate was viewed as one of the most laudable aspects of American Society. It’s part of our national fabric, and our country was conceived almost solely as a result of prolonged and heated debate. Debate teams have been a constant in schools for ages, and the ability to winningly articulate one’s ideas is as central to our national identity as freedom itself. We even created our Congress as two parts with debate expressly in mind, with the Senate being the chamber where differing points of view could be thoroughly discussed by each state’s most esteemed intellects.

But today, the accepted virtue of Free Debate now seems hopelessly anachronistic.

(via Mark Hemingway at The Weekly Standard) – “…On his blog this morning, Roger Pielke Jr. at the University of Colorado, a respected climate scientist, reveals that he was one of seven academics being investigated by Rep. Raul Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources.

And the good professor’s supposed crime, which is suddenly in need of Congressional inquiry? Take a wild guess:

Today’s lesson: how Liberals go about “arguing persuasively”, specifically in the area of Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Our first example is by way of the EPA:

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The newly appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday the only way to confront climate-change challenges and environmental problems facing agriculture is for farmers and government agencies to work together.

Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator for three weeks, said she accepted Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s invitation to the Iowa State Fair to celebrate steps Iowa is taking to control the runoff of farm fertilizer and manure.

“The challenge today is just to stop arguing about the problem and really start driving solutions,” she said in the speech.

This video is over three years old now, but considering we just covered a rather terrifying, real-world example of “Shut-uppery”, Klavan now looks like Nostrodamus, Cassandra and Web Bot, all rolled into one.

Only 4+ minutes, but what he’s saying (particularly in the last couple of minutes) rings especially true in light of the Occupy marches, and now the menacing creepiness of SWATtingwe just discussed.